Metrics Matter: How Does Your Agency’s Hospice Utilization Compare to State Levels?

What’s the hospice utilization rate in your state? By knowing this statistic, you have a frame of reference to evaluate your agency’s hospice utilization at the state and local levels. In this month’s metric, we present hospice utilization rates at the state level as measured by dividing the number of hospice patients served by the total Medicare eligible population for each state.

Choosing from 2 Different Hospice Utilization Measurements
When it comes to determining hospice utilization or penetration rates, there are 2 basic ways to measure them:

1. The number of deaths on Medicare Hospice Benefit divided by the total deaths or total anticipated deaths. (Total anticipated death figures eliminate suicides and accidental deaths.)

As we discussed in a previous Metrics Matter, this is the traditional way hospital utilization rates are measured. The problem with this method, however, is that mortality information is not made available on the same schedule for all states throughout the U.S.

2. The number of hospice patients served divided by the total Medicare eligible population.

Research analysis by Healthcare Market Resources shows that there is a 95% correlation between this method and the traditional hospice utilization measurement first listed. Furthermore, using this method eliminates the problem with inconsistent mortality rate availability. And that’s why we used the number of hospice patients divided by the total Medicare eligible population to determine hospice utilization by state in the following metric.

Graph showing US Hospice Utilization by State. Healthcare Market Resources specializes in Hospice Market Research.
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By looking at the 2007 U.S. Hospice Utilization by State, we can conclude:

  • There is a wide variation in hospice utilization rates among states, ranging from Alaska with the lowest rate of .71% to Arizona with the highest rate of 3.76%.
  • The national average hospice utilization rate is 2.41%.
  • The states in the top quartile of hospice penetration rates use hospice more than twice as often as states in the bottom quartile: 3.15% versus 1.46%.
  • Most of the states (8 of 13) in the bottom quartile have tight regulations or a Certificate of Need (CON) process in place to help regulate the growth of hospice programs; thus, the entry of new hospice providers in those states is limited.
  • Other important factors affecting hospice utilization may include a state’s predominance of rural counties and limited population centers. This is indicated by such non-CON states as Wyoming, Maine, Vermont and South Dakota all being in the bottom quartile of hospice penetration rates.

How does your agency’s hospice utilization compare with your state’s rate? Is there opportunity for growth in your market? Click here or call 215-657-7373 to learn more about this metric and ways to use the information Healthcare Market Resources provides to help your agency determine the most successful strategies for growth.